to donate to the American Red Cross Crossroads Chapter

Jayden Rodriguez already picked out his shoes for the next school year.

The 9-year-old tried on the white tennis shoes with white laces and then carefully replaced them in their box, so they would be nice and clean when school starts again.

They were his favorite shoes, he said, because they were so soft inside.

When he came home Sunday night to see his home destroyed by a fire, the first thing he thought about was his new, soft shoes - he would never get to wear them to school.

"We had been trying to start for school. I buy them stuff every time I get paid every two weeks, so I have been trying to get him new clothes. And Kaylynn (4-years-old), she is going to start going to school this year, too, so we had bought her clothes, too," said their mom, Robin Rodriguez.

The home they had been renting since August was a total loss in a house fire about 8:20 p.m. on Loma Vista Avenue and North East Street.

No one was home at the time of the fire, but one firefighter was injured when he fell through the floor of the home while fighting the blaze.

He was treated and released from Citizens Medical Center, Victoria Fire Department officials said.

Rodriguez and her husband, Daniel Rodriguez, and their four children, ages 10 months to 8 years old, stayed in a hotel Sunday and Monday nights provided by the American Red Cross Crossroads Chapter, but they do not have a place to live Tuesday.

They are in need of money for a deposit on a new rental or a temporary place to live.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Victoria Fire Marshal's Office.